Christmas heralds cautious optimism for the new year

In the lead-up to Budget 2016, there was a lot of talk about a giveaway budget, with expectations that a looming general election would be very much at play in budgetary decisions.

By the time Michael Noonan delivered his budget speech, much of the detail of the budget, and its impact on the pockets of Irish people, had already made its way into the public domain.

While it was a budget of few ...